When a lone gambler, in the risky business of euthanizing the terminally ill, is called home by her childhood buddy for her services, she faces the toughest job of her career, forcing her to revisit and reckon with an unwelcoming past. 

 Dutch, the complicated heroine of Pocket8s, does two things well:  plays poker and kills people. But when a job goes south, she begins to question her ability – and intentions. Methodically juggling the care of a challenged child and an off-the-radar, questionable profession in the field of assisted self-delivery, Dutch returns to her Midwestern hometown where her close friend suffering from ALS anxiously awaits her return. Thrust into the messy nostalgia of the past, Dutch is forced to reconcile the future of more lives than her own.

 The novel upends preconceived notions about life, death, the quality of life, family, family roots and friends. It opens the door to complex, hard-to-discuss, but relevant and timely topics such as euthanasia and abortion. And once through that door, the spiritual domain presents itself with questions and thoughts about chance, timing and most gripping of all, luck. 

 This page-turning, thought-provoking psychothriller will have your book club buzzing and maybe even you questioning your own motives in all you do. Pocket8s will have you rethinking what actually “being human” is all about. This fast moving “Winter Read” truly drives home the idea that you really can't judge another until you stand in those shoes.